If you’re considering installing a synthetic grass or poly putting green in your yard, chances are you understand the significance that ‘PRACTICE’ has on your golf swing and golf scores. However, if you’re not a touring pro surrounded by veteran coaches and game improvement gadgets and resources, chances are you have no idea HOW to PRACTICE.
We’ve all been told that golf is a game of repetition and have read or heard about how many thousands of balls Vijay Singh hits on a daily basis, or the crazy daily routine of Tiger Woods…so WE (myself included) head out to the range a couple days a week for an hour or so and pound one ball after another until the bucket is gone. And that’s how we practice. If we’re lucky, we might mutter to ourselves, “man, I hit the ball good today.” And so we head to the course confident and assured, begin our round, and are quickly brought back to the reality that our last practice session had no significant impact on our total score. Sure, maybe you found a tweak in your swing that helped you shape the ball the way you wanted, but did your score improve? Did you hit a 300 yard drive only to chunk the crap out of the ball from 75 yards and not even hit the green? Did you 3-putt three times from less than 30 feet? Did you break 80? Did you break 90?
If Golf is a game of practice and repetition, then we need to begin practicing in the CORRECT way. Consider a different tactic and STOP pounding balls on the range. Make practicing fun, new, and effective by incorporating realistic practice GAMES into your routine. In his book titled Golf Scrimmages: Realistic Practice Games under Pressure, Trent Wearner emphasizes how it is crucial to practice in the same environment in which you’re going to play. Watch and learn something from the kids and teenagers at the practice chipping green that are hitting balls from behind a rock or from a lie where they can’t see bottom of the flag stick. They find the most ridiculous lies possible and challenge their friends to a ‘round’ of short-game practice.
Trent Wearner’s book has received remarkable accolades because it is a perfect match for golfers of every ability level as well as golf coaches and teaching professionals. Its 230 pages mainly consist of nearly 100 games that help golfers practice the types of shots encountered on the course while at the same time under the same pressure that is felt on the course.
In his book, Wearner stresses that two components must be introduced to your practice — Pressure and Physical Conditions that are similar to the golf course. Pressure is applied through a scoring system, a goal and a consequence if that goal is not attained or a simple contest against a friend. Physical Conditions found on the course must also be present. This includes different lies, awkward stances, various situations and circumstances as well as varying your club and target. A lack of these components is why so many golfers have a hard time transitioning a respectable game to the course. It creates a wider division between the practice tee and the first tee.
Check out his book and stop being a “great range player” and become a golfer shooting lower scores. Don’t forget to call or contact O’Neill’s Green Services for your free synthetic grass putting and short game quote today!